Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Graphics

In my last post, I wrote about my decision to go with Small Basic as the best introduction to text-based coding in my classes. We make the jump in 8th grade CS, after having spent a month or so with GameMaker.

As I explained to my students, it was now time to take the training wheels off. We started with your basic TextWindow stuff: Hello World, getting user’s name and saying hello, calculating the user’s age in dog years, a simple savings calculator, a tip calculator. We slogged through my examples and students picked up some of the basics — variables, if statements, math calculation. All well and good. Not exciting but a good start.

After 2-3 days of that, I introduced the GraphicsWindow. We did shapes, fills, lines, background colors. Interest rose, as they could see the results of their code and the added benefits of color. The other day I introduced the Turtle… and BOOM! Knowledge and enthusiasm explosion.

I introduced FOR loops (with some trepidation, since I’ve found it’s a tricky concept for most middle schoolers). I casually demoed making some cool art with FOR loops. EVERYONE wanted to know how I did it. Showed them the simple code and challenged them to change it up, make it more colorful, experiment with different angles and movements. I had already introduced GetRandomColor, and kids went crazy. Some wanted to have a Turtle Art Exhibit.

Next up… making the art interactive. But I feel even more convinced that Small Basic is the right choice.